I am delighted to tell you that the long awaited book about the life of CCCA member, Win Percy, has finally been published. Called simply 'Win 1', it is a story of the amazing life of a very unassuming and modest racer. 'Win Percy is known throughout the racing world for his remarkable natural talent as a driver, his determination on the track, his sense of fair play and his many international successes. He is also respected by all as a delightful human being'. Written by his long-time pal, Spike Anderson. We are very proud to have him as active member of the CCC of A. Win has a small number of books here in Spain which can be bought direct from him. He brings about 20 or 30 at a time back from the UK on his flights so numbers here are limited. The book is available through EBay and, I assume, Amazon. I have a copy and, I can tell you, it is a hell of a read and a beautiful book to own.

It is with great sadness that I have to report the death today, of a heart attack, of CCCA member and journalist, John Peatey. The foto attached show's John with friends at yesterday's CCCA picnic and classic car run.

He did so much for the Club, in fact he has a full page, colour article on the Club in this week's Cost del Sol News. He was a great supporter of the Club, a good journalist, a very kind and decent human being and a friend to us all. John Peatey, you will be sorely missed.

If you remember I have a Triumph Stag languishing in my garage, awaiting acton by the Estepona ITV centre.

Basically what I need is someone who knows about classic cars, someone who can speak Spanish and English and is willing to help me (and come to the centre with me).

I will give you the details so that if possible, you can pass the email on.

When the car went for the ITV in Feb, although it passed mechanically, the ITV staff could not find the engine number. The Chassis Number or VIN (but known by Triumph as the Commission Number) is correct and in the appropriate location. They also found a small painted identification plate by the bonnet left hinge. The number on that plate is not the same as the VIN number, nor should it be as it is the Body Number.

The ITV staff won’t have this, even though they have no knowledge of Stag’s. I managed to find another Stag in Gibraltar and videoed that plate in the bonnet and in a continuous shot, the VIN number of the car in order to show that they are not the same on that particular car. I took this to the ITV staff and I also showed them on the internet, a site where it says what the numbers are. They eventually agreed that if the engine number and documents agreed, they would issue an ITV.Happily I went off home to find the engine number, to photograph it and send it to the ITV centre prior to taking the car back for their endorsement.

When I eventually found the engine number my heart sank as it did not agree with the V5 document from DVLA. I have invoices from the former owners which shows that the car was totally rebuilt and a reconditioned engine fitted in 2006.I contacted DVLA and after a protracted period of faxes, emails and time they have now supplied a Certificate of Permanent Export all stamped up with the corrected engine number (copy attached).

ITV have now been told by the spanish engineer that I have been dealing with that I have to get a letter from Triumph stating that the (body) number by the front left hinge is not the VIN number.

Clearly I can’t do that as Triumph are no more. I wrote to the British Heritage Trust but all they seem to want is money and they did not even reply. I think that it would cloud the issue if I had a certificate from them as it would show the original engine fitted at time of manufacture. The car has probably had several engines of course since 1973.

I have attached a photo of the Body Number (T21040LD or T20040LD) and a picture of the Commission No (VIN), (LD20851o) - the last digit is an “o” for overdrive. The car left the factory with an overdrive gearbox fitted but during the 2006 rebuild was converted to an automatic.

I need someone to represent me (I’ll be there of course) and lay out the evidence above to the ITV inspector, before I take the car there again, as it costs 100€ to transport.

Looking across to the Picos D’Europa Mountains at the top of the climb

This event has been running for 42 years, this being the 43rd time it has run and, it seems, the first time for 5 years that there was no rain. A bit of a shame really, as I wasn’t hopeful of a successful weekend having been told that the ‘tramo’ or route was very difficult, not particularly fast, and extremely testing on the cars agility. There were at best guess about 50 bends throughout the climb, most of which were very tight corners, 2nd and 3rd gear only being used most of the time.

Us Brits being more used to driving quickly in wet conditions than the Spanish, a touch of rain may have helped our chances of a better result. Not because the Ginetta isn’t quick or indeed good at changing directions, again the problem is the ability of the current suspension to deal with these conditions.

Our result on the previous event was purely down to the route being at higher speeds and using higher gears, much smoother and indeed not dissimilar to circuit conditions. Al Fito was entirely different, and this soon became apparent when I recce’d the route early Friday morning before any traffic appeared on the road. Immediately I realised I would be at a major disadvantage, not only because it was my first time competing on this event but my competition had been here on numerous occasions previously. I simply couldn’t remember all the route, even after 20 times up and down the hill!

The turnout of vehicles was a touch disappointing compared to the previous weekend in Portugal, only 66 cars whereas there were 152 cars on the Rampa Falperra event. The usual competition seeking both European and National honours were present. Simone Fagglione in the Norma, who I think might be now licking his wounds and thinking he should have left the car in Italy. Fombona and Javi Villa and Jairo Pesquera in the DTM Audi and BRC 06’s respectfully all local Asturian drivers and running in Class 2 so in competition, Class 3 runners (My category) Borriega in the Mosler, currently leading the National championship and GT class, Aznar and Maldonado in the GT3 Porsches and Panella in the Mitsubishi.

The Start and finish of the MM.

We are back from our odyssey!!

We came back Tuesday night extremely tired and to be honest very disappointed, it could be the most beautiful event in the world like Enzo Ferrari used to say of the old race, but now days it is far from it, the organisation is very poor, the road book is not as good as yours the timings are horrendous, it is extremely tiring , there isn’t any camaraderie with the participants absolutely not social, if you are lucky and have no problems you may get 3 hours sleep every day, therefore it is not funny. We got caught by an unbeliable diluvio biggest storm ever seeing in the mountains about 250 Kms from Rome and stupid us we were not prepared and end up completely soaked and ever so cold, I was shivering, my goggles stem up and could not see anything, I took them off and the intensity of the water was so much that it hurt the face and my eyes and have to through the towell and Chris drove the rest of the way to Rome.

However, it is in Italy the roads are fabulous the cities and Villages you go through are fantastic, the public is very warm and over the 1000 miles there is not one kilometre where it is not full of people shouting and encouraging you, the police is wonderful and they also push you, but there were a few accidents and if the organisers do not change the present system one day will be a huge accident like in 1957, and then it will be forbidden again for ever.

Said all this, we enjoyed it and there is an important tick on the list of things to do before before we kick the bucket !!